Monday, June 23, 2014

Bloggers and Friends, Ravens, Homes.

Is it blogging I wonder, or is it me. I have met some wonderful people in cyberspace with whom I have made great friends; however, these friends include a Mexican Fire Dragon who lives in a cave and owns 150 dwarves, his dragon knight, a Ninja with a cloning machine, a guy who’s garden gnomes hold weddings and who’s dog writes many of his blogs; I have even become grandmother to the dragon. Every one of them goes out of his/her way to help people as much as they can and to encourage others, particularly those who are writers who seem to need lots of encouragement even when they have been published many times. It was the dragon who drew my signature picture which I have been using and gave me the Golden Scale Award. There are many other wonderful blogging people but not all of them have alter egos.

I was writing about superstition the other day and Matt reminded me of one very important one in the annals of British History. There are ravens living in the Tower of London and legend has it that if they ever leave, the crown will fail and Britain with it. Naturally their wings are clipped to make sure this doesn’t happen. There have to be a minimum of 6 so they keep 7 just in case. They are looked after extremely well by an appointed Ravenmaster and his assistant. There are some interesting raven stories at the end of the Wiki article to which I have linked.

Another thing which came up over the weekend; because of a crossword clue, Matt asked me if I could name all of the five Great Lakes. Due to a trick passed on from his father, I could certainly do so, easily.
Huron
Ontario
Michigan
Erie
Superior – in other words, the first letters spell HOMES

In case you wondered, no, asparagus season is not yet over although it is fast drawing to a close. Here is a somewhat luxurious way of serving this, my favourite vegetable.

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. In a large pot, steam or boil asparagus until just tender, about 10 mins, cool under cold water, drain and set aside.
3. Coarsely chop cooked lobster, set aside
4. Prepare crêpes.
5. Divide the asparagus into 8 separate bundles. Place a bundle in each of 8 crêpes, sprinkle with salt and roll to enclose. Place asparagus in a glass baking dish, top with lobster and cover with foil. Just before serving, and no sooner, place in heated oven for 15 mins to warm through.
6. In a small saucepan over medium high heat reduce (boil) vinegar, water and 1/2 tsp salt until approximately 3 tbs remains, remove from heat.
7. Lower heat to medium-low, add yolks to pan and return to heat, whisking constantly until foamy and lightly thickened. Make sure not to scramble eggs; if the eggs begin to cook too quickly pull off the heat and whisk vigorously to cool slightly before continuing.
8. Begin to whisk butter into pan 1 cube at a time. Once all the butter is incorporated, whisk in lemon juice, white pepper and fresh herbs. Use immediately.
9. Place two asparagus crêpes on each plate and top each with some of the warmed lobster. Spoon hollandaise overtop, serve immediately

Servings: 4

Source: Food and Drink Spring 2010

Author Notes

If preparing this for a dinner party, the asparagus, lobster, crêpes and vinegar reduction can all be prepared beforehand so that the only thing left to prepare is the hollandaise. Make sure to use a good quality butter so that the hollandaise has great flavour.

I took my kids to the Tower of London and they were fascinated by that legend when I told them. I'm not fussed on ravens... or crows. Another legend is that they're really witches spying on us. I love the sound of those bloggers you mentioned. Very eccentric and imaginative!

Oh yum that looks so good to me right now. Been doing a lot of asparagus lately. Hey, its good stuff. Next year I hope to be harvesting my own. Then I'm going to go back and look up all your recipes for it, lol!

We do have a lot of great blogger friends out there and like you, I've made some great friends and some I've met.

I heard the story about the Ravens. I think they're such clever birds. I've always loved them and of course they're great carrion birds, which given England's bloody past, explains why the tower was a popular abode for them. :-D

I've never found an online community any better than this writing community of ours. Such remarkable folks. And yeah, that dragon and ninja and human-owning Jack Russel are cream of the crop. And there's this recipe-spouting Canadian out there that's tough to beat. ;-)

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About Me

Happily married for 45 years, originally from the UK, living in Canada now. Interested in cooking, reading and wildlife conservation. Read more at http://satimaflavell.blogspot.ca/2009/02/fresh-fields-reading-and-recipes.html